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Aaron is 5, Aidan is 8 and Sean is 10
This summer Sean went to Camp Akeela in Vermont for one month. When I flew up to Burlington to pick him up, I brought Aidan with me and we spent three wonderful days in New York City seeing all the cool sights. We even saw Matilda the Musical on Broadway. Mom was in heaven! There was a very somber moment with tears from Aidan when we visited the September 11th memorial in New York City.
This year has been hard for me. I've been in and out of physical therapy and on/off medications to help me with back pain and spasm muscles. At one point, my sister suggested I go speak to her Neurologist in Tampa. My sister has had Parkinson Disease with tremors since her mid 30's. Surprisingly, my father's death certificate had Parkinsons listed on it too. Anyways, desparate for help, I agreed to go. I was prescribe a test called a DatScan to determine if my Dopamine levels in my brain were low. My lovely insurance wouldn't cover the test calling experimental, even though it is the ONE and only test available to determine Parkinson. Due to the family history, my new neurologist decided to put me on one of the trial medications for Parkinsons. She prescribed me a medication with some significant side effects. None of which a mom of 3 boys, a full time job, has the time to deal with. Anyways, I tool the medication and surprisingly to me, my muscle pain decreased significantly. I became overall much happier and more free to move around with much less pain. The side effects of the medication is insomnia. I would take the medication at bedtime and then wake up at 2am and be up until 5am and eventually fall back to sleep. This doesn't really work for me because I have to be up at 6am to get the kids fed, ready and off to school and then report to my job by 8:30am. So after enjoying not being in pain, I stopped the medication so that I could carry on as mom and employee. That is when I realized that I am in a very difficult position. I am 42 years old. I cannot shoulder the pain of stiff muscles and function either. I'm at a cross road and during the interim, I'm struggling to complete all of the basics tasks that a 42 year old should be able to do. I can't keep up with the housekeeping, I can't keep up with the laundry. I tell my DH that I hurt and he just doesn't get it. I don't wish this level of pain on anyone. It's awful. I'm scared as well for what lies ahead in my future.
It's been a while since I have posted. In mid August I finally took the family Gluten Free. We were able to drop the 10 year olds ADHD meds and mood stabilizing medication. Since then, it's not an optional diet in the family, we are 100% Gluten free. I'll drop wheat any day verses given my oldest those medications. '
We ate at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, Boma and they fell in love with their Gluten Free Mickey waffles. I wish I had that recipe, all the chef told me was tapioca flour. This is my attempt for the boys and they loved it.
I found the Mickey Waffle maker at ToysRUs.Com. The waffle maker makes 4 Mickey waffles. I have three boys to make a family of 5.
You will need:
4 eggs
2 cups of buttermilk
1/2 cup oil
3 tablespoons Vanilla
2 cups of rice flour
1 cup of tapioca flour
3 tsp of baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
4 packets of Stevia (or sugar)
1 tablespoon of Cinnamon
Separate eggs, and beat egg whites to form dry peaks. Set aside Mix egg yolks with buttermilk, stevia, vanilla & oil.
In a separate bowl stir dry ingredients together, including tapioca flour. Mix egg yolk mixture into dry ingredients. Fold in egg whites.
For the Mickey Waffle maker above, if you have pre-heated and sprayed pam or coconut oil, cook for 3 minutes.
This will feed a hungry family of 5, if your family is smaller, cook all the batter. Let the extra Mickey waffles cool to room temperature, place in freezer safe bag, with waffles separated by wax paper and reheat on a busy school morning!
Ian was invited over to London as part of our company expanding Globally. It just happens to be the starting week of the Summer 2012 Olympics. Ian's parents have agreed to watch the boys for us why I get to go to Europe for the first time. I'm not so excited about the Olympics as I am about going to England, because my Taylor side of the family immigrated to the US from England. I am hopeful if my sister Teri calls me back that I might get the names of the cities so I can go and visit some of the towns. I have to say I am nervous about traveling during the Olympics. I've added some pictures of myself and the kids over the last 6 months. Aaron is now 3 and he is in the top picture with the shovel. Aidan is now 6, in the middle and Sean is almost 9... where does the time go. I love them so much. They are my world.
We took a last minute trip to San Antonio, we had a blast.. we stopped in Austin and let the boys play at the Children's Museum on the way down. It was HOT HOT HOT down there, too hot to wear makeup, it would have melted off my face. We were only there for a quick 48 hours. Riverwalk was neat. I would have much rather been there alone with Ian, however we have come to accept that we won't be getting weekends alone together for a long time. We visited Morgan's Wonderland which was a park designed for children and adapted for kids with special needs both intellectually and physical. The boys loved it and we hope to take them back in the late fall or during the winter when it's not so hot outside. Well, I have to run... baby is upstairs wiggling. Sad I only get a few moments to myself to type : ).
What have we not been up to? We are always on the go go go. All three boys are growing up so quickly. Sean, amazes us more and more every day. He was recently accepted into a math and science charter school. At the age of 6 he enjoys everything science. Every morning when he wakes up he turns on the weather channel. He is mostly interested in hurricane season and local severe weather. Often times when we drop him off at the curb at school, the first person he see's he tells the weather forcast too.
Sean has been doing addition, multiplication, and has recently started to learn division. He knows all of the elements by symbols on the periodic table of elements. In his free time, he will go to the internet and watch video clips on national geographic on Solar Winds or something. His recent standardized testing had him in the 99th percentile for academics compared to typical peers his age. He is reading on a third grade level. Sean had a bit of a tough mid year at school. Thankfully, we are back on the right path and Sean is participating in his classroom and even had a young lady in his classroom write out her phone number and give it to him for a play date. Of course, Sean has no idea what to do with this.
Aidan, how quickly he has grown up. His speech is starting to improve significantly. He is 3/4 of the way potty trained. He loves to play, has a great imagination (loves the rescue heros). Aidan is our child that gives cuddles and kisses. We are working with him now on transitioning into new public places (he's having a hard time). He is very interested in what his big brother Sean does. In fact, he is often Sean's shadow if Sean will allow it. He is reading, starting to write his name, and can identify all of the planets in space by sight. Aidan took the brunt of Sean's "hitting" issues we had during mid school year. Now that Sean has stopped, Aidan is in some type of shock and has started to act out himself a little. 
Baby Aaron is on the run run run. This mom is on her feet every minute of the day because of this little man. He is into anything and everything. Aaron started walking at 13 months. He loves to be outdoors. He loves his older brother's attention. He says ma ma and da da and has started in the Early Childhood Intervention program due to his high genetic risk for Autism. 
I stay really busy juggling two school schedules, social skills groups events, school district meetings, doctors appointments, ECI appointments, and playdates. In fact, i'm a bit ticked that I havn't lost weight because I eat like a bird and I'm on my feet all day long doing something. Perhaps my endocrinology appointment next week will shed some light on it. I am often tired. Have I spilled my guts enough yet, I just made myself tired reading this : ). 
Ian hasn't been traveling, which has made me really happy. He has been working long 60-70 hour work weeks and it appears he might be getting a promotion very soon. I am very happy for his career success. I'd like to say I played an important role in it. : )
WOW! time FLIES with three kids. For those of you who were family/friends when Sean was born, I'm reliving that nightmare with baby Aaron. Baby Aaron has never once slept through the night. In fact, at best he sleeps in two hour increments. Next friday we are having a sleep study done, however he's identical to Sean in this category, especially with the belly issues. Ian & I haven't found a way to pencil in any help for me either. Like most families, we are recovering from a major home improvement job (shower), Ian's broken truck, entertaining for the holidays.... isn't there always something. I need to start interviewing people to come to the house during the day for two or three hours, just enough time for me to get in a nap or to get some cleaning done. Baby Aaron doesn't let me put him down, he is 22 lbs, so my arms are getting strong : ). I think I might be calling ECI soon : ), I'll wait until the sleep study reports come in, they are also giving him an EEG (Karyn are you back at work?).
